Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time disabled students received disability living allowance or personal independence payment and were in the work-related activity group for income-related employment and support allowance in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what evidence his Department has that (a) under the full service and (b) under the live service universal credit (i) moves people into work more quickly and (ii) supports people to stay in work longer than the previous system; and if he will set out the timescale over which that evidence was collected.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We will be publishing further research on the employment impacts of Universal Credit shortly.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress has been made towards introducing personalised and tailored employment support for disabled people who are looking for work.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
From April 2017, as announced in the Green Paper, Improving Lives, we rolled out the new Personal Support Package (PSP) for people with health conditions. So far we have recruited 300 new Disability Employment Advisers, allocated £15 million to the Flexible Support Fund, made changes to the permitted work rules, and almost completed the roll out of the Health and Work Conversation. This is in line with our ambition to provide a support system which can be tailored to individuals’ needs.
As part of the PSP, we have been rolling out a £330m package from April 2017, delivering a broad range of employment and health support for new ESA Work Related Activity Group and UC Limited Capability for Work claimants. For those claimants, the national employment support provision has been expanded and extended so that there are spaces available on Work Choice and Specialist Employability Support. This will also apply to the Work and Health Programme when it is rolled out from November 2017. We have introduced Community Partners to Jobcentres across Great Britain, peer support Journey to Employment job clubs and deployed trained Small Employer Advisors to deliver the Small Employer Offer.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much additional funding was allocated for loans to compensate full-time disabled students for the loss of access to employment and support allowance since the introduction of universal credit.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Most full time students in higher education do not qualify for Universal Credit. Students, including disabled students and those with health conditions, access fees and living costs support for their higher education courses through various loans and grants funded by the Department for Education.
However, Universal Credit is designed so that a person already in receipt of Universal Credit because of disability or ill health is not discouraged from taking up higher education that may help them in the future.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the introduction of universal credit on the take-up of higher education for full-time disabled students.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Most full time students in higher education do not qualify for Universal Credit. Students, including disabled students and those with health conditions, access fees and living costs support for their higher education courses through various loans and grants funded by the Department for Education.
However, Universal Credit is designed so that a person already in receipt of Universal Credit because of disability or ill health is not discouraged from taking up higher education that may help them in the future.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants on full service universal credit have not been paid in full within six weeks in each of the last two years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We are intending to publish further data on payment timeliness in due course, but our latest internal data nationally, suggests around 80% of cases are paid in full at the end of the first assessment period.
For the remaining cases we estimate around a third have not signed up to their claimant commitment so cannot be paid until they have. The other two thirds have an outstanding verification issue, such as providing bank statements, evidence of childcare costs, or proof of rent. Many of these claimants receive a part-payment where elements of the claim have been verified.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Minister for Employment's oral contribution of 27 June 2017, Official Report, column 570, on universal credit customers' satisfaction, whether the universal credit claimants referred to were on (a) live and (b) full service; and over what period of time those claimants reported their satisfaction.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The DWP claimant satisfaction and experience survey currently only covers Universal Credit Live Service claimants. The available figures cover the financial year 2015/16.
We continue to monitor and evaluate the delivery of Universal Credit. To date there have been a number of published reports where claimants responded to surveys. As Universal Credit is rolled out to new areas of the country we will continue to involve claimants in the overall evaluation.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claimants on full service universal credit were satisfied with the service received in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what that satisfaction rate was in (a) live and (b) full service areas.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The DWP claimant satisfaction and experience survey currently only covers Universal Credit Live Service claimants. The available figures cover the financial year 2015/16.
We continue to monitor and evaluate the delivery of Universal Credit. To date there have been a number of published reports where claimants responded to surveys. As Universal Credit is rolled out to new areas of the country we will continue to involve claimants in the overall evaluation.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to progress the proposals set out in the Green Paper entitled Work, health and disability green paper: Improving Lives.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The Government is committed to improving employment and health outcomes for disabled people including delivering on the manifesto commitment to get 1 million more disabled people into work over the next 10 years. We received a very large response to the consultation on the Green Paper, with over 6000 responses. We are considering these and will set out our next steps on this important agenda in due course.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of proposed changes to the employment and support allowance work-related activity group on claimants.
Answered by Priti Patel
The Government set out its assessment of the impacts of the welfare policies in the Bill on 20th July last year.
We are committed to transforming people’s lives by supporting more disabled people into work. We have increased funding for support for those with health conditions and disabilities by almost 15% and are bringing in a new Work and Health Programme.